Houkago Space Time
by Roscoe Boldt
Summary: In the distant future, sugar (and with it, delicious cakes) have been outlawed. Captain Hirasawa Yui and her crew aboard the spacecraft "Houkago Space Time", however, spurn the law in the name of pastries! Follow this team of renegades on their sweet journey through the cosmos. Space AU. Shipping will come eventually.
1. Chapter 1

"Shields at 40%, captain!" Mio cried. Yui, without taking her eyes off the bridge's display, pointed a finger at her engineer.

"Add five percent power to 'em, Mio-chan!" she commanded.

"Roger!" Mio chirped, pressing away at the neon buttons and spinning the knobs on the control deck.

Yui reached down and unclipped her radio from her hip, bringing it to her face.

"Ricchan, come in, over!" she spoke firmly. Her radio crackled to life, but the voice coming from the other end was drowned out by a cry from behind her, to her left.

"Captain, the enemy is charging its gamma cannon!" Mio reported.

"Azu-nyan!" Yui called to the pilot on her right. "Roll right!"

"Roger!" Azusa affirmed. Yui turned her attention back to her radio.

"Ricchan, we're rolling right, over!"

"Got it," came Ritsu's calm voice from the radio, as the crew felt the harsh g-forces of the ship spinning clockwise.

"Brace for impact!" Mio yelled in a panic.

The group grabbed onto the nearest support as the space outside their windows glowed a brilliant neon green with the blast of the gamma cannon. After a moment, the ship began to shake violently. Yui, who had been standing, lost her footing and tumbled to the floor. Eventually, the green-tinged chaos ceased, and Yui remained lying on her back on the floor of the bridge.

"Captain!" came Mugi's worried voice. "Captain, are you okay?"

"I'm good," came Yui's dazed voice. "Mio-chan, damage report."

"Shields at 5%, hull integrity is fine." Mio's exhausted report came. Yui brought her radio to her mouth once again, ready to contact Ritsu, but the weapons specialist's voice came of its own volition.

"Everyone alright down there?"

"We're good. What about you?" Yui asked, still lying on the floor.

"Been better, been worse."

"Captain," Mugi's voice came again. "They're requesting to open communications."

"Excellent. Azu-nyan, are we on a collision course with the enemy ship?" Yui asked, finally standing.

"Uh, I… no, captain," Azusa stammered. "What are you thinking?"

"There's no time," Yui lamented. "Mio, charge the warp drive."

"Captain, we're not oriented. If we warp now, we'll be flung God-knows-where, and we'll be unable to warp again for at least 24 hours!" Mio pleaded.

"If we stay here," Yui said grimly, "We'll die."

There was a silence as the weight of their dilemma sank upon them.

"Mugi, cake me." Yui said. Mugi stood quickly, shimmying over to the captain's post in the center of the bridge, a plate of cake in one hand and a fork in the other. Without opening her eyes or changing her serious expression, Yui opened her mouth expectantly and gave a small "aah." Mugi took a piece of cake with her fork and fed it to Yui, who chewed seriously. Finally, she swallowed, looking up at Mugi.

"That's some good cake. Thanks, Mugi-chan. Open communications," Yui commanded as she sat once again in her captain's chair, leaning lazily back with her hands behind her head. The large window in the front of the bridge shone brightly with the face of the enemy captain, an elderly man with a bushy, gray moustache.

"Hello, Captain Hirasawa. Hello, Houkago Space Time crew," the man greeted familiarly.

"Hello, Captain Splenda," Yui greeted, pulling a pen from her breast pocket and twirling it in her fingers.

"Now, now, Captain," the man chided, "I thought we had gotten past name-calling. My name is Captain Spinel. I suppose you don't care, though. You don't care about much. You especially don't seem to care that you've finally been cornered. You'll have to face court for your crimes now, you know."

Yui, seemingly uninterested, grabbed a notepad from the panel in front of her and began scribbling on it.

"Unfortunately, before I arrest you, I have to tell you what you're being arrested for. We may be here a while," Captain Spinel lamented.

"Uh-huh," Yui said absentmindedly, still scribbling on her notepad; she knew the details of their pastry-related crimes well.

"Firstly, six counts of resisting arrest," Spinel read from somewhere off to his left. Yui tore the piece of paper off of the notepad.

"Secondly, twelve counts of evading officers of the law." Yui began folding the piece of notebook paper into a small paper airplane, never looking up at the screen.

"That means you've only caught up to us half the times you've tried," Yui pointed out coolly.

"Thirty-eight counts," Spinel ignored her, "of possession of illegal cane-sugar in the form of cake." Yui carefully aimed her paper airplane towards Mio, who was closely watching Captain Spinel on the screen. Yui threw the airplane, which hit Mio expertly in the face. The engineer jumped in surprise, and looked embarrassedly at Yui, who was giggling to herself.

"Finally, One hundred and sixty eight counts of illegal trading of illegal cane sugar in the form of cakes." Mio, still fuming, opened the paper airplane and read the words:

 _Activate the warp drive when I say "thirteen."_

"I think your numbers are a little off," Yui said. Mio couldn't catch her gaze, and instead resolved to follow her strange instructions.

"Oh?" Spinel prompted. "How's that?"

"The one about evading officers? You said we have twelve counts," Yui said. She suddenly looked up at the screen with a burning intensity in her eyes. "You should make that _thirteen_."

With the flip of a switch on Mio's control panel, the Houkago Space Time set off at light speed into the deep unknown, leaving behind a likely confused and surprised Captain Spinel. After a few hours of warping, they would be stranded in uncharted territory, at the mercy of the cosmos.

At the very least, though, they'd be free.


	2. Chapter 2

The gentle whoosh of the cosmos and the hum of the warp drive were all that could be heard on the bridge of the Houkago Space Time. No one dared speak, lest the fragile peace be shattered by heated discussion. Every few moments a soft tap and a beep could be heard from Yui's post, as she attempted to track their trajectory. In what could be considered either good or bad news, they seemed to be heading to an area that was sparsely populated; few people could bother them, and few people could help them.

Despite her cool demeanor, Yui was deeply worried about whether she had done the right thing. Sure, she was willing to risk her life in the unknown to avoid arrest, but were the others? What right did she have to decide that for them?

Footsteps signaled to the captain that she would soon have her answer. As the sound of boots on metal grew closer, Yui looked up to see Ritsu rounding the corner and entering the bridge.

"What the hell was that?" Ritsu demanded. "Where the hell are we going?"

"Ricchan," Yui stammered. "I can explain."

"We had to act quickly," Mio said. "We had no choice."

"I could have blasted those jerks outta the sky!" Ritsu cried.

"Ritsu, we don't kill people," Mugi stated firmly. Yui looked anxiously between the three, searching for something to say.

"Why not?" Ritsu responded without hesitation. "They'd kill us in a heartbeat. I say they'd be getting what's comin' to 'em!"

Mugi, Ritsu, and Mio continued arguing as Azusa stood next to Yui.

"Azu-nyan," Yui whined, on the verge of tears. "I messed up."

"Hey, no you didn't," Azusa cooed, placing an arm on Yui's back. "We're all safe because of you."

"Thanks, Azu-nyan, but I still took a big risk without asking."

"I trust you," Azusa assured. "We all do."

Yui sighed with slight relief, looking at her pilot. Her stare lingered for a second too long and Azusa became nervous, eyeing Yui suspiciously. Sure enough, Yui gave a mischievous giggle and puckered her lips, beginning to lean in. Azusa, who at this point was used to Yui's intimate nature, swatted her away with ease.

"Don't get too comfy, captain," she chided, "We'll need to be on our toes as soon as this warp is finished."

"Good point!" Yui conceded. "The people this far out might never have heard of cake."

"That'd be tragic," Azusa said sarcastically, rolling her eyes.

"Alright everyone!" Yui cried, snapping Mugi, Ritsu, and Mio out of their discussion, which had turned into normal discourse at this point. "We've got three hours until this warp is finished. I'm gonna take a nap. I think you guys should too."

"Don't have to tell me twice!" Ritsu joked with a salute. "I'll be in my bunk if you need me. Don't need me."

As Ritsu left, so too did Yui, leaving everyone behind on the bridge and heading for the captain's quarters. A short walk out the back of the bridge on her right, the door to Yui's quarters opened automatically. Yui, exhausted from the day's events, flopped down on her velvet bed, stretching her arms out wide.

With a sigh, she rolled onto her side, her gaze meeting a small picture frame on the bedside table. The face in the frame smiled at her.

"Ui…" Yui mumbled. It had been months since she had seen her younger sister and best friend. Yui had never wanted to be an outlaw; Ui had been injured. She was fine now, but an accident had left her with medical bills sky-high, and a mountain of debt. Yui, having heard of copious treasures throughout the galaxy, left their home planet with her group of friends from high school in search of this treasure. However, while on a distant planet, the crew had purchased and eaten no less than six cakes, which contained sugar. Sugar, of course, had been outlawed; it was often grown in horrible working conditions by slaves in certain parts of the galaxy. The cakes the crew of the Houkago Space Time had eaten were made with sugar grown by local farmers and their families. The law, however, made no distinction, and during a planetary raid, the crew had been caught red-handed. They were able to escape amid the chaos, but were now a group of runaway criminals.

Maybe one day, after Yui found enough treasure, she could take Ui and move somewhere far away, where they could live in peace - wealthy and anonymous. For the meantime, however, it was Yui and her crew, and as of a few minutes ago, they were stranded in no man's land.

There were only three "bedrooms" on the Houkago Space Time, if you could call them that: Yui's room, and two dorms. Mugi and Azusa shared one, and Mio and Ritsu the other. Ritsu had been truthful on the bridge; she had hit the hay as soon as she'd returned to her room. Mio had followed a few minutes later, sitting on her own twin bed mere feet away from Ritsu's.

She held in her lap a book. She wasn't reading it, however. It was merely a cover for her slightly embarrassing and certainly shameful hobby of watching Ritsu sleep.

She didn't well remember when she had started this behavior. The first few times had not been a conscious effort, she simply caught herself doing it. It was a strange fascination she had, and she had never figured it out. Perhaps it was because Ritsu was so fiery and energetic when she was awake that it was a rarity to see her so subdued and relaxed. Perhaps it was because she looked so different with her hair down; she slept without her headband. Perhaps it was because watching someone sleep was an incredibly intimate act and Mio craved that closeness. Whatever the case, Mio found herself in this position most nights before she went to sleep.

She let her mind wander. How would it feel to run her fingers through Ritsu's hair? How soft was her skin? How warm would it be to lie next to her?

Mio found herself on her knees next to Ritsu's bed, watching her more closely. She noticed the shallow rise and fall of Ritsu's chest as she slept. She smiled slightly at the sight of Ritsu's slightly-open mouth. She reached a hand out, slowly. As she noticed her own actions, she froze, reconsidering her position. After a moment, she bit her lip and continued, running her hand through a lock of Ritsu's hair. It was impossibly soft. As she did this, she caressed the side of Ritsu's face.

"Mio…?" Ritsu mumbled, half asleep. Mio froze instantly, her heart dropping in her chest. "Whaddya doing? Why're ya touchin' my face?"

"I, uh…" Mio stammered. "You were acting strange earlier on the bridge, so I wanted to make sure you didn't have a fever."

"Oh," Ritsu breathed, sniffling drowsily. "I feel okay." she paused.

"I don't think you have a fever," Mio confirmed, red-faced.

"Cool," Ritsu mumbled, rolling over and returning to her slumber. After a moment, Mio scurried away like a frightened kitten and sat on her bed.

What the hell am I doing?! Mio thought to herself. Why did I do that?

She had no idea in the slightest to either of those questions. She was just glad Ritsu hadn't woken up completely. Gazing at the clock, she saw it had been two and a half hours already since they had begun their warp. There was no time to sleep - not that she would be able to anyway, after what she just did. With a sigh, she resolved to go analyze the ship's internal systems, since she couldn't analyze her own.


	3. Chapter 3

"Captain!" Mugi chirped. "Incoming distress signal from thirty degrees g-west."

"Eh?" Yui said, confused. "We just got here, who could be contacting us already?" Yui, Mugi, Azusa, and Mio had returned to the bridge. Ritsu, presumably, was still asleep.

"There's no way to be sure; It's in a language I've never seen before," Mugi explained.

"Ooh, cool!" Yui said, happily clapping.

"More like 'potentially dangerous'," Azusa chided. "How are we supposed to gauge the situation if we can't communicate?"

"What's the planet look like, Mugi?" Yui asked.

"Looks barren, for the most part. Maybe there's a research or exploration team trapped there." Mugi speculated.

"Maybe we can get some clues if we move in closer," Yui said. "Can't hurt to orbit, right?" murmurs of agreement permeated the bridge. "Azu-nyan, set course to orbit the planet."

"Roger!" Azusa saluted, manning the flight controls.

"What's happening?" Came the voice of Ritsu, who was standing in the threshold to the bridge, sleepily rubbing her eyes with the back of her hand.

"Ricchan!" Yui greeted. "We got a distress signal, so we're gonna orbit this planet to get a better look."

"Oh," Ritsu said. "Want me on weapons?"

"Only if you wanna," Yui said. "You can hang out here if you want!"

"Stay here, Ritsu-chan!" Mugi pleaded. "You've been either on weapons or sleeping for a couple days now, we miss you!"

"I guess I can hang around for a little bit," Ritsu said, a bit hesitantly.

"Uh, Captain," Azusa called shakily. "We have a problem!"

"What is it, Azu-nyan?" Yui asked, running over to the pilot's post.

"This planet's gravity is way off the charts, like it's made of lead! I don't think I can maintain orbit safely." Azusa explained, frantically adjusting the ship's course.

"What do we do now?" Mio asked from the engineering post. "I can divert more power to the thrusters if you think it'll help."

"I don't think we have a choice! We're gonna have to land," Azusa lamented.

"Won't we be stuck there?!" Ritsu cried.

"Not if we start from the ground," Azusa assured. "I can launch straight up from the planet's surface once we land. I just can't pull up quickly enough."

"Alright, bring her down then," Yui ordered.

"Roger," Azusa said, gently tilting the yoke upwards.

Mio braced for the sickening weightlessness of landing. The Houkago Space Time created its own artificial gravity day-to-day, but had trouble adjusting on the fly, especially near planets. Mio grabbed her desk and tensed her muscles, clenching her teeth. She felt someone squeeze her shoulders in a show of comfort. Looking straight up, she saw Ritsu standing over her.

"I don't like it either," Ritsu said quietly.

"Thanks," Mio replied gratefully.

After a few minutes, the off-and-on nauseating weightlessness subsided as the Houkago Space Time touched down.

"We have touchdown!" Azusa declared.

"Good job, Azu-nyan. Mugi-chan!" Yui beckoned. "Have we triangulated the distress signal?"

"Sort of," Mugi said. "There are multiple distress signals, maybe hundreds, off and on, from all directions."

"Whoa!" Yui said. "That's freaky." Standing at her post, she punched a few buttons on her dashboard, prompting a small periscope to descend from the ceiling. Peering through, all that lay before her was a silver-ish landscape of sand and dust, mostly plain in topography, with a few hills on the horizon: a practical desert. Looking away from the scope, she turned back to Mugi.

"How far away are these distress signals?" Yui asked.

"About 1100 feet," Mugi said. "No, wait, make that 1000." The four other crew members looked between each other suspiciously.

"Now it's 900. They're definitely moving toward us." Mugi said.

"Ricchan?" Yui beckoned. "Why don't you go ahead and get on weapons?"

"On it," Ritsu affirmed, dashing out the back of the bridge. Yui peered back in the periscope and let out a yelp as she was met face-to-face with a large, pink-ish insectoid creature, who was gnawing on the ship's hull. As she turned the periscope, she spied another insectoid open its jaw as if to make noise, but no such noise came.

"Captian! We just got another signal, this time right in front of us," Mugi reported.

"It's alien bugs, and they're making the distress signals with their bodies!" Yui cried. " _That's_ freaky."

"Alright, I'm reorienting the ship. Let's get out of this place," Azusa said, her voice wavering. Yui's radio crackled to life on her hip.

"Captain!" Ritsu's panicked voice came. "These things are trying to get in and eat me! Can I start firing at them?"

"Fire at will, Ricchan, I'll get on the second weapons bay." Yui spoke into the radio. "Azu-nyan, blast off as soon as you're ready!" With that, Yui ran towards the second weapons bay, punctuated by the sound of Ritsu's cannon-fire.

Yui sat down in the chair of the weapons bay. She had only done this once or twice, but she hoped she was experienced enough to hold off these giant termite-like aliens.

Sure enough, as soon as Yui began to move the cannon, the insects climbed onto the windshield. Their sizes varied impressively, and Yui wondered if some of them were babies. One of the larger ones reared back its mighty pincer and punctured a hole in the glass of the weapons bay. Its claw-like appendage scratched across Yui's face, and she cried out in pain. Her ears rang with the hissing of the air escaping quickly from the weapons bay, and she stumbled out of her seat and ran back out to the hallway. Still wincing from her stinging wound, Yui lifted the glass box that covered a red button that read "Depressurize and Airlock." she pressed it frantically, and sighed with relief as she heard the loud metallic click of the room being sealed. For all intents and purposes, that room had now been jettisoned until it could be repaired.

/-*-*-\\\

"Yui depressurized the second weapons bay!" Mio cried, staring in shock at her HUD.

"I'll go make sure she's okay!" Mugi declared, sprinting off toward the weapons bays.

"Be careful, we're about 20 seconds from launch," Azusa warned.

"Got it!" Mugi called, barely audible as she rounded the corner.

Coming to the weapons bay, she found a ghastly sight: Yui, who was bleeding badly from her face, was stumbling along the hallway in the direction of the bridge, leaning on the wall for support.

"Captain!" Mugi yelped, tears already forming in her eyes. The roar of the ship's engine and the cannon-fire from Ritsu made it hard to hear. "Captain, come with me, I'll get you to the medical bay."

"Mugi-chan," Yui moaned. Suddenly, the ship began accelerating rapidly upwards, sending Yui to the floor in a heap, and causing Mugi to stumble forwards.

Struggling to stay upright, Mugi leaned down and turned Yui onto her back.

"Yui-chan, can you hear me?" she yelled over the roar of the engine.

"Wow, I must be pretty dizzy to fall over like that," Yui observed groggily. Mugi, through her tears, sniffled laughed at that.

"No, silly, we're taking off. Come on, I'll help you up," Mugi offered, helping Yui to her feet. She practically dragged Yui the short distance to the medical bay, laying her down on the nearest table.

As Mugi began to apply first aid, Yui winced, but remained silent. After a few moments, she spoke.

"Do I get to wear an eyepatch now?" she asked. Mugi chuckled at that.

"No, but you might need stitches. It's hard to say right now, but this might leave a scar." The gash went from Yui's left temple down to underneath her chin, just passing over the corner of her lip.

"Ooh, that's cool too," Yui said approvingly. The room became quieter as the engine calmed, and the exhausting g-forces subsided as the Houkago Space Time escaped the mysterious planet's gravity.

"You're awfully chipper about this whole thing," Mugi said, as she applied hydrogen peroxide to the wound, causing Yui's eyes to moisten, and her leg to twitch in an effort not to move.

"Being chipper makes it hurt less," Yui croaked. The door to the medical bay opened, and the rest of the crew spilled in. Yui looked at them without moving her head.

"Captain!" Mio cried. "Are you okay?"

"I'm okay. Mugi-chan says I'm gonna have a cool scar!"

Azusa ran to Yui and took her hand in her own.

"Yui-chan…" she said, beginning to cry.

"Hey now," Yui cooed. "It's okay, I'm okay, we're okay." Azusa breathed deeply and nodded.

"I'm gonna stay here with you, okay?" Azusa announced. "Uh, if that's okay with you, Mugi-chan."

"Yes, of course," Mugi assured. "I'm gonna be giving her stitches in a minute though, so you might want to look away."

Azusa gulped, resolving to ignore her squeamish tendencies.

"Thanks, Azu-nyan," Yui said. "Mio-chan, you're in charge until Mugi-chan says I'm good to go."

"Eh?!" Mio yelped. "How long is that gonna be?"

"She'll be fine in a day or so," Mugi assured.

"Don't worry, we're just gonna be waiting until the warp drive is recharged. Just make sure everything's running smoothly for the next 24 hours or so. I trust you," said Yui. "We all do." Mio took a deep breath and nodded.

"I'll do it."


	4. Chapter 4

"Are you laughing still?" Mio asked threateningly, staring at Ritsu, who was turned away. The weapons specialist lifted a hand to cover her face. "No," she tittered unconvincingly.

"You totally are!" Mio cried.

"I'm sorry!" Ritsu laughed. "I just can't imagine you 'laying down the law,' you know?" she paused for a moment, then began chuckling again. "Actually, I can totally imagine it, and it's hilarious."

"Well, at least it's mostly just _you_ I have to deal with," Mio teased. "You're pretty harmless." Ritsu stopped, whirled around, and looked at Mio incredulously.

"I'm _what?!_ " she demanded. "I'll have you know I'm a deadly renegade!"

"So long as no one tickles you," Mio teased, lifting her hands in a show of force.

"You wouldn't dare," Ritsu scowled and pointed at Mio.

"I'm your captain, I can do whatever I want!" Mio said, reaching for Ritsu's midsection.

"No!" Ritsu squawked, sprinting into the bridge, Mio laughing at her as she herself entered the bridge.

"Hey Mio," Ritsu said, plopping down in the captain's chair. "Look at me," she said with a thick accent. "I'm the captain now!" Mio, despite the mutiny, shared a good-natured laughed with Ritsu.

 _Maybe this won't be so bad,_ Mio thought to herself. She was removed from her thoughts as she watched Ritsu rummaging through a drawer at the Captain's station.

"Ritsu, what are you doing?" Mio asked with exasperation. "You can't just go looking in other people's drawers!"

"Relax, Mio," Ritsu assured. "Yui keeps all her dirty secret stuff in her quarters anyway. I'm looking…" she paused dramatically, before pulling out a sleek black box with wires running out of it, holding it up triumphantly. "...for this!"

"What is that, a KBox 360?" Mio rolled her eyes.

" _Excuse_ you," Ritsu said, offended. "It's a KStation 4. And I hereby challenge you to a race on _Hyper Turbo 5._ "

Mio looked around the bridge. Shrugging, she looked at Ritsu.

"I guess we have nothing better to do," Mio admitted.

"Great!" Ritsu chirped. "Best four out of seven, winner gets to be captain?"

"What?!" Mio cried. "No! Yui said she wanted me to be captain. Wager something else."

"Ugh, fine," Ritsu rolled her eyes. "How about whoever loses has to do an embarrassing dare?"

Mio considered that seriously. On the one hand, she in no way wanted to be subject to humiliation, especially at the hands of Ritsu. On the other hand, the thought of Ritsu making a fool of herself almost made it worth the risk. She watched Ritsu plug in the gaming system.

"Against my better judgement," Mio said, "you're on." Ritsu grinned and handed her a controller.

/*-*-*\\\

The only light in the infirmary came from a desk lamp situated next to Azusa's armchair. The aforementioned pilot sat quietly and read a book, one she had no doubt read many times over their journey. Yui, for her part, found trouble sleeping. Pain, adrenaline, and emotion swirled in her mind. Staring at the ceiling provided little entertainment for the captain, nor did it provide any refuge from her regrets about their situation.

Grunting slightly, Yui adjusted herself to sit up. Azusa noticed and put her book down on the table.

"Yui, Mugi said you need to rest," Azusa reminded.

"I can't sleep; my face stings and I'm not tired," Yui said quietly, finally coming to a cross-legged sitting position.

"Still, you shouldn't strain yourself," Azusa said with a gentle smile.

"I'm sorry, Azunyan," Yui said, bowing her head.

"No worries, I'm just repeating what Mugi said."

"Not for that," Yui clarified. "For everything else." Azusa cocked her head to the side.

"What do you mean?" she inquired.

"I came to you guys talking about treasure hunting and adventure, and all you got was trouble and heartache," Yui explained. "I haven't been the most responsible captain."

Azusa stood, walking to Yui's bedside. Yui looked up to meet Azusa's dim gaze.

"We have had adventure," Azusa assured. "Adventure _is_ the treasure."

"But I-" Yui began, but Azusa put a finger gently over her lips.

"We trust you. We love you. We're proud to call you captain. We would go to the ends of the universe for you, just like you would for us. That's all that matters." Yui gazed at Azusa with teary eyes. Azusa leaned forward and rested her forehead on Yui's. "You're the best captain I've ever had." Yui chuckled.

"I'm the only captain you've ever had."

"Thank goodness," Azusa said. "I wouldn't have it any other way."

The light on the end table fizzled out with a buzzing noise. The girls straightened quickly and looked around. The hum of the air conditioning faded to a halt.

/*-*-*\\\

"Good going, Mio," Ritsu said sarcastically. "Your suckage blew the circuit breaker."

"Sure, that's it," Mio rolled her eyes. "I'll go reboot the power."

"What, in the engine room?" Ritsu asked.

"Yeah, why? Are you afraid to be here alone in the dark?" Mio teased.

"Eh? No, I'm good. I'll chill here," Ritsu said, leaning back in Yui's chair.

"Alright, don't do anything stupid while I'm gone," Mio squinted at her, and then turned to leave.

"Mio?" A soft voice came from the threshold. Mio turned to see the dim silhouette of Mugi in the doorway. "Can you help me for a minute?"

"Yeah, what's up?" Mio asked as she followed Mugi down the hallway. They rounded the corner to the storage room.

"I was doing inventory, and I can't reach the shelf to put the Beta Rocket shells back," the blonde said sheepishly. "I figured since you're a little taller than me you might be able to reach."

"Well," Mio said, "I was on my way to reboot the power, but this will only take a second, I guess."

The two entered the storage room, where a lit flashlight sat on a table next to a cardboard box full of bottle-shaped pieces of metal. Mio spied an empty spot on the top shelf.

"Up there?" she asked.

"If it's not too much trouble," Mugi said graciously. Mio nodded and lifted the box above her head. It was just out of reach. Standing on her toes and extending the box with her fingers, she got one corner on top of the shelf. She precariously tried to bounce to nudge the box forward, but it slipped and tipped backwards, showering her in metal shells. After the cascade of weaponry had finished falling on her, Mio was left standing with her hands clasped over her ears and her eyes shut tightly in panic.

When no deadly explosion came, Mio tentatively opened one eye and looked at Mugi's concerned face.

"Mio, are you okay?" she asked.

"We're alive?" Mio asked shakily. "None of them went off?" Mugi cocked her head.

"They're just shells," Mugi explained. "They're empty; they're what's left after you fire a Beta Rocket. We recycle them." Mio visibly relaxed.

"Oh," she said, lowering her arms and sighing. "Let me help clean these up."

After that fifteen-minute debacle, Mio was finally able to restart the power system, which had likely been temporarily fried after Yui jettisoned the second weapons bay. As she came back to the bridge, Ritsu was still seated in Yui's chair, looking relaxed. Mio sauntered over to her engineer's station and eyed the screen wearily.

'3 new messages', it read.

Wincing, Mio opened the messages.

"19:00 GMT - Greetings, this an automated message from the Northern Galactic Administration. We have detected your ship is in unauthorized space. Please move your ship out of this private area. Thank you." Mio read aloud. "Yikes, this was like an hour ago, before the power went out. Guess it only just got here after I refreshed the system." Mio opened the second message.

"19:30 GMT - Greetings, this an automated message from the Northern Galactic Administration. We previously contacted you about your ship's unauthorized position. Please move your ship as soon as possible, or you will be prosecuted. Thank you." Mio grimaced.

"That's gonna be a hefty parking ticket," Ritsu remarked. Mio hesitantly opened the third and final message.

"19:55 GMT - Greetings, this an automated message from the Northern Galactic Administration. We have detected your ship is still in unauthorized space. Please move your ship in the next five minutes or it will be moved by force. Thank you." Mio froze. Looking at the system clock, her blood ran cold. 19:58 GMT. They had two minutes. She clumsily pulled her radio from her hip and spoke into it.

"Azusa! Get out here _now!_ We gotta get out of here in the next two minutes or we're toast!" Distant scrambling followed, as well as the sound of approaching footsteps and a cry of "Coming!"

/*-*-*\\\

It had been a long day for the stand-in captain. It had started normally enough, but quickly devolved into running from the law, fighting off alien insectoids, and narrowly avoiding parking tickets. Mio had been exhausted.

A good night's sleep had done wonders for the engineer, who awoke feeling refreshed and ready to face the day. Mugi reported that Yui's stitches were infection-free and that the air-headed captain would be ready to retake her position at the helm of the Houkago Space Time.

Mio, who had come to appreciate the difficulty of being captain, made one last round through the ship to make sure everything was running smoothly. As she surveyed the bridge, she came to Yui's desk. Looking at it scrutinously, she noticed some writing on the surface.

' _Whatup Yui-dawg? Love yo face - Ricchan_ ' Mio face-palmed.

"Ritsu!" She called. "Get over here." Ritsu scampered over like a guilty puppy and stood before the still-technically-in-power captain. "What is this?"

"It's just marker," Ritsu assured. "Watch, it'll come right out." She licked her thumb and rubbed at the writing. It didn't even smudge, remaining as clear and dark as before.

"Ritsu…" Mio said dangerously. "I was supposed to keep things running smoothly, and now Yui's gonna come back to a vandalized desk because you couldn't keep yourself in check!"

"Hey, hey," Ritsu assuaged. "I'll take the heat for it, don't worry."

"She's gonna hold _me_ responsible because _I_ was supposed to be keeping you out of trouble!"

"Trouble?" a voice came from the entrance to the bridge. Ritsu and Mio looked to see Yui standing tall in the doorway, face bruised and stitched, but nonetheless confident. "What's going on?"

"Captain!" Mio said, straightening up. "I tried to keep everything in line as best I could, but…" she watched silently as Yui read the graffiti. She held her breath as Yui turned to Ritsu.

"Ricchan, that's so sweet!" Yui said with a goofy smile. "I love yo face too!" She hugged Ritsu as Mio watched on in disbelief.

"And Mio-chan," Yui said. "Thank you for keeping everything running smoothly." She gave the engineer a warm hug as Mugi and Azusa entered the bridge. Breaking her hug with Mio, Yui looked proudly at her crew.

"Well then, crew," she said finally. "Onwards!"


End file.
